Marooned
by EnigmaticPenguin
Summary: When the DP gang are stranded on a desert island they face many dangers, including the Fenton Ghost Disabler, a hurricane, deep ravines, quicksand, and many more horrors, in an effort that soon shifts from getting off of the island to simply surviving.
1. Prologue: Hurricane Horror

Note:Below is the full summary in all its glory, because it got cut off and I had to shorten it. I do this only because it'll give you more insight as to the full content of this story;)

**_When the Danny Phantom crew are stranded on a desert island they must face many dangers, including the Fenton Ghost Disabler, a vicious hurricane, deep ravines, quicksand, poisonous snakes, falling airplanes, large carnivorous felines, cannibals, volcanoes,and many more horrors, in an effort that quickly shifts from a goal of getting off of the island to simply surviving._**

_Clicking on the fanfiction, rather than seeing an author proud to showcase her latest work, you see a mushroom, white and specked with three green spots, and carrying a long red stick despite its lack of hands. The mushroom speaks:_

'Oh, uh, hi, everyone! I bet you're wondering where the author of this story is, huh? Well, uh, she's not here right now, because she brutally hit herself in the head with her keyboard multiple times and typed a long row of random meaningless letters. Well, long story short, she's been working on this story rather than her other ones for a while now, and is about seven whole chapters in. Actually, she's just a little obsessed with it, to tell you the truth. Oh, yes. It's been "Marooned this", and "Marooned that", and "MUSHI, GET AWAY FROM THAT PLOT OUTLINE FOR MAROONED!" Yeah, talk about pure torture, and all I was going to do was use that paper to make a piñata and hit it with my stick…

'Ah, yes. I bet you're all wondering who I am, too, aren't you? My name is Mushi Kinoko, and "Kinoko" is the Japanese word for mushroom. "Mushi", on the other hand (if I had one, that is…) is the Japanese word for insect, or neglect. _But_, EP tends to write "Mushi" in Katakana, marking it out as a foreign word or name with a non-Japanese meaning. And if you were to write my name in Japanese, please call me "Kinoko Mushisan", or "Kinokosan". Although I can't call myself "san", because in Japanese culture it is considered rude to refer to yourself as "san". Or "kun" or "chan", too.

'Um, but I'm running away with myself here. Anyway, to present a story thought of by EP, brooded upon by EP, written by EP, edited by EP, and published by Schoolastic… Hah, just kidding. Published by EP. Before she hit herself over the head with the keyboard, that is.

'I'm guessing you came here to read it, which is sad really, because no one ever reads MY stories. Okay, so I haven't written any, but… Well, you wouldn't read them if I did, now, would you? No, I didn't think so. So, you'll be reading this now, I guess. And please, don't line up for my autograph afterwards, even though I'm _sure_ you'll be wanting one.

'And now, why don't y'all read that prologue here, okay? Mushi signing out!'

* * *

**Prologue: Hurricane Horror**

* * *

**_D_**anny Fenton slouched in his seat, arms crossed, glaring at the man who was sitting innocently before him. 

"I know you're planning something, Vlad," he growled, loud enough for only the multi-billionaire to hear.

"Oh, am I?" the man asked. "Really, Daniel, why must I always be up to an evil plot of some sort? Can't we simply put that all behind us, and get along?"

"You're not fooling anyone, Plasmius," Danny hissed. "I might not know _what_ you're up to, but I know _why_ you're up to it."

Danny glanced in the direction of his two parents, who were attending to a device in the middle of the airplane.

Jazz walked up to them storming.

"What kind of parents are you?" she berated. "You drag your entire family on a trip to the ends of the earth, just to try out your new invention on some ghosts that are supposedly haunting the Bermuda Triangle? And what is _that_, anyway?" By '_that'_, Jazz was probably referring to the invention which was currently the main object of her scorn, and her parent's interest.

"This," Maddie explained to her daughter, "is the Fenton Ghost Disabler."

"That's right! This baby," Jack said, patting the machine, "is designed to disable any ghost within a range of one hundred yards by paralyzing it with an ectoplasmically-charged electrical shock! The amount of time the ghost is disabled depends on the amount of electrical energy run through the Disabler, as well as things such as distance from the Disabler, power capabilities of the ghost; that sort of thing."

"Football field range," Danny said, with a somewhat amused look at Vlad. "Better hope the Packers aren't ghosts, Vlad, or I'll have actually found a good use for one of my dad's inventions."

"Oh, please!" Vlad scoffed. "Your father built the thing, Daniel, do you really think it will even work?"

"My mom helped," Danny said pointedly.

"True," Vlad sighed. "And dear Maddie can do no wrong..."

Danny snorted loudly, causing Vlad to glare.

"So, anyway, Plasmius," Danny began offhandedly a few minutes later, "why'd you decide to sponsor this thing, anyway?"

"Because, Daniel," the elder halfa explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "the Bermuda Triangle has been the source of many mysterious disappearances throughout the ages. Would it be so hard to pretend that Jack has been lost to the mysterious and unknown dangers of the area?"

Danny blinked, then looked out the window of the plane at the sparkling ocean below. "Wow, you give up your villainous plots more eagerly than Technus," he said.

Vlad narrowed his eyes. "Oh, but I haven't divulged all of my plot to you, Daniel. I highly doubt that you will be able to perceive the rest of my plan."

"Hmmm..." Danny said, mock thoughtful as he turned away from the window. "It doesn't have anything to do with the Fenton Ghost Disabler disabling a one Danny Phantom so you can put your plan into action, does it?"

"Oooh, you've discovered my evil plot! Whatever shall I do?" Vlad asked with sarcastic fear. "Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. This is why I'm the chess master in this game, and you are merely a pawn!"

"Hi, Mom!" Danny said, waving over Vlad's shoulder. Vlad jumped and turned around, but Madeline Fenton was still at the Fenton Ghost Disabler with Jack and Jazz.

Danny smiled smugly as Vlad looked back to him. "Cut it with the chess analogies, Vlad," he said as he got up. "Oh, and, another thing_...GET A CAT!_"

Danny walked over to join his two long-time friends, Tucker and Sam, in another part of the plane.

"So, what's Vlad up to now?" Sam asked.

"Well, let me see... If you guessed 'Vlad will use the Fenton Ghost Disabler to short out my powers, then push my dad off into the ocean and run off with my mom,' then you're correct! You've just won our million-dollar grand prize!"

"I didn't guess, but can I have the money anyway?" Tucker asked hopefully. Danny laughed and shook his head, turning to look out the window.

"Hey, is that a ship?" he asked.

"What? Where?" Sam asked. She and Tucker moved to their own windows, looking.

"There," Danny pointed.

A cruise ship could be made out, bobbing on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Is what a ship?" Valerie Gray asked, coming up to them.

"That," Tucker said, pointing much as Danny had done.

"I think that's Paulina's Easter Vacation Party Cruise ship that we weren't invited on," Sam said, with a sideways glance at Valerie.

Valerie had been invited on the plane trip by Danny, who had sympathized with her when he heard that she was one of the four students in the Freshman year at Casper High who weren't in band or Chess Club and hadn't been invited on Paulina's cruise. Valerie had previously had nothing to do during the week-long break, and had jumped at the chance to spend some time with Amity Park's resident professional ghost hunters, particularly after she had heard that the trip was sponsored by her formerly-anonymous weapons donor.

"What cruise?" Jazz asked, coming up to join them as Valerie had done.

"The cruise which every fourteen year old student at Casper High besides us four is going on," Valerie said sadly. She sighed. "I know I'm not rich any more, but I somehow can't believe that I wasn't invited."

Danny, Tucker, and Sam exchanged glances.

"Valerie, Paulina's not your friend any more. She only hangs out with rich popular people, and wannabe-popular suck-ups like Star," Sam growled.

"Sam's right, Val. Besides, we're your friends now," Danny said, throwing his arm around the girl's shoulders in a gesture of friendship. Sam stiffened, and glared at Valerie, who smiled tauntingly back. Danny, unaware of the silent war that was waging between the two girls, frowned as he stared out the window.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked, removing his arm (much to Sam's relief) to point out the window.

Tucker, Sam, Jazz, and Valerie looked to the direction he was pointing in. To the front of the plane, barely visible because of the angle the window had to the nose, was a dark smudge on the horizon.

"It looks like a storm," Valerie said.

"And it looks like we're headed right into it," Jazz added. "Hang on, let me go talk to the pilot." And Jazz left to do just that.

"Hah!" Sam said, her nose pressed against the window. She was looking down at Paulina's cruise ship. "Look, Paulina and her party are headed straight towards it! Oh, I can just imagine them all, seasick!" Sam closed her eyes and smiled, envisioning a boat full of seasick jocks and preps.

"Well," Jazz said grimly, coming back, "I've just talked to the pilot. Apparently it's a huge thunderstorm cell, and we have to go right into it. There's not enough fuel to take us around."

"So what do we do?" Tucker asked.

"Buckle up and brace yourselves," Jazz said.

* * *

**_T_**he storm was upon them a little more than half an hour later. It was not, as the pilot had said, a thunderstorm cell. It was a hurricane! Rotating winds buffeted the plane about, rain pattered so ceaselessly that it sounded like one continuous drumbeat of enormous volume. Visibility was nothing; only black shadowy clouds could be seen through the windows, occasionally illuminated by a sudden lightning flash. The accompanying thunder seemed to shake the whole plane. 

"How does the pilot even know where he's going through all this?" Valerie asked.

"Built-in guidance and navigation systems," Jazz said knowledgeably.

The plane shook, veered temporarily to the side from a tremendous wind gust.

"Oh, I don't like this!" Tucker said. He jumped as thunder cracked loudly.

"It's okay, Tuck. We'll be fine," Danny said.

The plane veered again, tilting drastically. Balance was lost and several people fell; the Fenton Ghost Disabler fell over to its side and slid over to the door on the leeward side of the plane, knocking the latch off and the door open.

"Ahh!" several people shrieked simultaneously as the door opened and the storm came rushing in. Without a second thought, Danny jumped up, no one—thankfully—noticing the fact that he had phased through the seatbelt.

Danny, as well as his two parents, rushed towards the open door, the Fenton Ghost Disabler kept inside the plane by only a quarter inch of metal on either side.

"Danny! Go back to your seat!" Maddie shouted, but it wasn't heard over the wind and thunder, or the creaking of the tempest-tossed plane.

She, Jack, and Danny pulled and dragged on the device, attempting to pull it back into the plane.

"Almost there..." Danny panted as they fought against the pull of the storm and gravity. The plane lurched again, almost knocking them from the plane.

Danny gasped for air against the heaviness of the storm and the effort of trying to pull the device back into the bucking airplane. There was a horrible metallic, electric taste to the air, and his hair was standing on end. Danny could feel some strange energy condensed in the air, his instincts screaming at him to run, but Danny ignored them and pulled harder on the Fenton Ghost Disabler, feeling it pull free from the wall, pulling it inside the plane so he could close the door...

"_GET DOWN!_" someone yelled. Danny felt someone pull him down by the scruff of his neck, breaking his grip on the invention and pulling him further inside the plane.

_CRAAAAACK!_

The thunder boomed with earsplitting ferocity, more of a deafening crack than anything else, the lighting striking at the same time as the thunder. Danny turned his face away from the white-hot flash that seared through his eyelids, the tremendous heat burning him, hurting him, coursing through him with electrifying ferocity...

Danny heard himself screaming with pain such as he hadn't felt since the ghost portal accident.

And then it stopped, the air grew cool, and Danny fell into blackness.

* * *

_An insane penguin-lover stirs, a keyboard lying next to her…_

Huh! What the-? Oh. Ugh. Note to self: never hit self with keyboard.

Anyway, I'm guessing that you're all here 'cause ya read my story. Yes, I agree with most of the things Kinokokun said about me… MOST, mind you. But if it had anything to do with my stupidity concerning stories… Yes, sadly, 'tis true.

Okay, a few (andbyfew I mean...RUN NOW!)more notes to make here before I let ya go. To start, yes, I know, I've been absolutely awful concerning my other stories. 'The Halfa That Time Forgot'… well, the third chapter was only half-typed…'halfa' chapter, if you will…Oh, never mind, that was a really bad pun, I know. Sorry. But the chapter was only half-typed, and I can't get the reactions right… They just seem so darn OOC! And even if they don't… I'm just never satisfied with them. It always seems like I'm missing something… But, I guess I'll figure that out in the long run.

'Heightening Fears' is being quite cruel; I have the second half of the chapter typed, but not the first…'halfa' cha- Oh, forget it. Once is bad. Twice is torture. Anywho, I just can't start it. Awful, I know. Nothing sounds right. And I have such a nice action scene with Skulker… If you call Danny's leg getting broken 'nice', that is.

And, 'The Penguin and the Phantom' is not forgotten, just suffered a point mutation involving the deletion of… Ach, wait… Ignore that. Actually, I have the fourth and fifth chapters all nice and written up, I just can't get the third chapter down on virtual paper.

And I doubt that anyone out there is following 'Not All Smooth Snailing', but if you are by some random chance, I'm working on that one, too.

The reasons for my lack of updates run thus:

**1..**Writing an unnamed sad romance mystery-type story. It will never be read by human eyes, but I'm addicted to writing that thing.  
**2..**'Marooned'… Yes, I'm absolutely _obsessed_ with this story right now. If you don't believe me, when I was obsessed with 'THTTF', I wrote two and a half chapters. On this, I have written six and a half. And true, they are short, but… Gr.  
**3..**Overwhelmedness. It's called havingaboutfifteen fanfiction ideas, plus four running, and not being able to get them down fast enough.  
**4..**Semester finals. They're killing me. Running off on point mutations is proof of that. The only plus side is that school days are half the length…'halfa' leng- THREE TIMES IS WAAAAAY TOO MUCH ON THIS SAD LITTLE EXCUSE FOR A PUN! **ONCE** WAS BAD ENOUGH!  
**5..**My parents went to New York City for four days, screwing up my schedule like you wouldn't believe. Yes, I actually have a schedule!

As you can see… I'm all disorganized. I think that list explains everything. And, as usual, my tendency to ramble has run away with my fingers. I shall attempt to stop now.

The good news I can bring you is that I named my nickel Phillip, and also that, because I'm already well into this story and obsessed with it, you can expect fast updates. Yes. Every two days at the very least will be my goal.

Okay, now I guess you'll want to review… Although all of my rambling has probably driven all thoughts of this story from your mind. Either that or it made you so scared that you wish to run very far away from your computer.

But if by some miracle you are still here, and still thinking of this story, I invite you to review with all forms of comments, compliments, complaints insults, praise, questions, prose, blunt inanimate objects being thrown, offerings to the penguin gods, ramblings, rantings, mutterings, jokes, witty banter, random senseless script, constructive criticism, destructive criticism, just plain old ordinary run-of-the-mill criticism, random acronyms for long names, all caps, helpful comments, hindering comments, and gifts of sporks.

-E.P.


	2. Chapter 1: In Plane Sight

Chapter two as promised, and I'm not unconscious to usher it in! Yippee! I forgot to mention something in last chapter, and I don't think Mushi did it for me… This story will (hopefully) be told entirely in the Third Person Limited perspective, and will follow Danny and Danny alone. Please try to keep me to this, okay, my reviewers? I usually write in the Third Person Omniscient, and if I accidentally stray into the thoughts of others, please keep me in check.

Also, I generally make it a habit to tell what inspired me with the random idea, which sparked this fanfiction idea and brought about the developed plot, and yadda yadda yadda. Well, toobad for you, this was brought aboutby a number of random elements, which I am too lazy to list here.And I'll pretend to ignore those random cheering sounds from the background ;)

Chapter now. I didn't put a disclaimer in this… But that's alright. Y'all know what I do and don't own. And if not, you should by now, being rather obvious.They get boring after a while.

Oh, and ignore the awful pun in the chapter title. I couldn't think of anything better, so I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles, hm? Note that homophones make for great puns, though!

* * *

**Chapter 1:In Plane Sight**

* * *

"**D**_anny..._" a gentle voice crooned through the boy's consciousness.

"_Dan-ny..._" the voice said again, clearer this time.

"Fenton! Wake up!" a harsh voice barked. He felt pain on the side of his face, and he opened his eyes, only to raise a hand against the bright sunlight. He could see the shadows of palm fronds above him.

Slowly, Danny sat up. "Unh... I... What?" he asked groggily.

"Oh, good, you're awake!" the first voice he had heard said happily. Danny looked around to see none other than Paulina Sanchez kneeling before him.

"Paulina?" he asked with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, during the storm, our ship kind of crashed. It was so exciting, just like the Titanic! But then we washed up on this island. Who knew those hideous life jackets could be good for something? But all that salt water must be horrible for me skin!" Paulina said.

"Right," Danny answered, thinking that maybe Sam had a reason to dislike Paulina after all... Even if she _was_ practically a goddess. "So, uh, how did _I_ get here?"

"When we were in the ocean you just fell down on top of us. But what I don't get is how a loser like you ended up out here in the first place!" Dash said.

"I was on an airplane, with my family, and Tucker and Sam. And then we crashed..." Danny closed his eyes, trying to remember. "There was a flash of light, and a loud noise, and lots of heat..." His eyes snapped open. "I- I didn't... I _couldn't_ have..."

"What?" Paulina's satellite, Starla, asked.

"I think I was struck by lightning," Danny said quietly.

"What! But, wouldn't that, like, kill you or something?" Dash asked bewilderedly.

Danny shook his head, not knowing what to say. He thought that he had most likely survived because of his ghost powers, although he couldn't voice these thoughts aloud in present company. Instead, he replied with, "I don't know... I think it's possible to survive being hit by lightning..."

The jocks and cheerleaders of Casper High surrounded him with awe in their eyes; clearly, anyone who could be hit by lightning and survive was worth their respect.

Danny looked around, taking in his surroundings. He was on the edge of a dense-there was no other word for it-jungle. It was just like a picture from _National Geographic_, or a scene from one of those movies in which people are stranded on desert islands. And with a sinking feeling in his stomach, Danny realized that was exactly what had happened to them.

Danny got to his feet, looking around. The blue ocean was sloshing with waves, the sand was golden and sparkling in the sunlight upon the long, sloping beach. It was like a Hawaiian paradise.

_Except_, Danny thought, shielding his eyes from the glaring sunlight so he could look to the horizon, _Hawaiian paradises never had so many thick dark clouds on the horizon. Wait, all across the horizon?_

Danny puzzled this over, than ran to the edge of the beach, ignoring shouts of, "Fenton? Where are you going?" He was knee-deep in the shallows, his pants soaked, but he didn't care. He looked around. The entire island was surrounded by water and, as far as he could see, dense black clouds.

Danny ran back to the group, which was staring at him.

"Are you crazy, Fenton?" Kwan asked. Danny shook his head.

"The hurricane," he panted. "How long did it last?"

"A few hours or so," Star supplied. "It just kind of ended."

"No break in the middle? No space between the storm?" he asked, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"N-no," Star said, clearly scared by Danny's actions.

"Why, is something wrong, Fenton? The hurricane's over!" Dash exclaimed. Danny shook his head and looked at Dash.

"Haven't you ever heard of the eye of the hurricane?" he asked. The blank looks were answer enough.

"No? Then we need to find shelter," he said.

"Why?" Paulina asked. "It's such a nice day; I was hoping I could work on my tan."

"The hurricane isn't over," Danny said.

"What?" everyone asked. Danny nodded grimly.

"So, what, it's coming back?" Star asked fearfully.

"Are there two hurricanes?" Kwan asked.

Danny sighed; he couldn't spend all the time explaining hurricanes to them! Seizing a stick, he drew a large circle in the sand.

"Here, pretend this is the hurricane," he said. He drew a smaller circle inside the larger one. "This," Danny narrated, tapping the circle with the stick, "is the eye. We-" he made an X in the center of the eye, "-are here. In the middle of the hurricane."

Fearful eyes stared back at Danny.

"So, what do we do?" Dash asked.

"You're asking _me_?" Danny asked.

"Well, sure," Paulina said. "You know the most about this. Besides, there was that time you helped us save our parents from those ghosts. Although," she added as an afterthought, "Inviso-bill helped us more."

"Danny Phantom," Danny corrected automatically.

"Oh, right. I forgot," Paulina said. Then she brightened. "Hey, maybe Danny Phantom will come and save us!"

"I don't think so," Kwan said. "Amity Park is miles away from here!"

"Yeah, but the ghost boy always shows up where Danny is," Paulina explained.

"Uh, right," Danny said, trying to steer the conversation away from such dangerous waters. "Well, I'm going to go look for a place where we can stay."

Danny marched off into the jungle, turning behind a very tangled tree once he judged himself far enough in to not be seen.

"I'm going ghost!" he shouted.

Nothing happened.

"Well, that's weird," Danny said to himself. He frowned, and placed a hand on the tree behind him, trying to phase through it.

Nothing happened. In face, the part of his mind that triggered his ghost powers wasn't there, as if it were asleep, numb, or...

"Paralyzed," Danny said to himself. The Fenton Ghost Disabler! Of course. It had disabled his powers... But how? The machine needed electricity to work...

Danny slowly pieced it together. He hadn't been hit by lightning; the Fenton Ghost Disabler had! The electrical charge from the lighting had powered it, and the device had lived up to its name and disabled every ghost within a one hundred-yard range, which included him. And Vlad, of course.

_Vlad_. What had happened to him? And the rest of Danny's family? Tucker and Sam? And Valerie? Did they survive? Or did he just fall out of the plane, leaving them to fly on...

Danny leaned back against the palm tree and slumped down to a sitting position. This was too complicated!

Danny glared up into the boughs of the tree... And something that looked oddly metallic. Frowning, Danny climbed up the tree to see what it was.

The piece of metal was very battered, but unmistakably a detached airplane engine.

Fearing the worst, Danny looked the large piece of metal over, then shoved it out of the tree in the hopes that it would be useful somehow. Then he turned to climb out of the tree. Which was when he saw the airplane.

It had not been visible from the ground, because it was propped up by several large, vine-entwined trees. One wing slumped to the ground, making an almost perfect ramp to the airplane itself. The other wing was detached and in the canopy of another tree; Danny noted that this was the one from which the engine was missing. The side of the plane bore Vlad's emblazoned insignia; it was definitely their plane. The tail was twisted—melted, from the looks of it, by what was probably lighting—and the glass on many of the windows had shattered, as had that of the cockpit. The entire plane was covered with vines, palm fronds, grit, and scratches. It was unfit for flight, but perhaps intact enough to serve as a shelter; certainly, it was large enough.

Danny practically leapt out of the tree and ran back to the beach.

The wind was beginning to pick up, blowing sand and making the waves larger. The dark clouds on the horizon had advanced noticeably closer to the island.

"I found a place to stay," Danny called to the group on the beach.

"What?" several people asked.

"My airplane. It's a wreck, but it might just be able to shelter us..." Danny said. It had certainly been high enough up in some trees that flooding wouldn't be much of a problem... Or so he hoped.

"Well, then, what are you waiting for, Fentina? Show us where it is!" Dash demanded.

"Okay," Danny said, throwing a dark glance at Dash for calling him 'Fentina'. "Everyone, follow me!"

Danny led them to the airplane.

"Are you sure that we'll all fit in there, Danny?" Paulina asked nervously.

"It's bigger than it looks," Danny said. He went over to the ramp formed by the remaining wing and scrambled up it. It was steep, but enough dents remained that Danny could find handholds. It still wasn't the easiest climb, and, having slipped more than once, Danny found himself wishing for his ghost powers.

Finally, though, he reached the top, and climbed out onto a thick limb, holding on to an overhead branch for balance, to the door of the plane which was conveniently located just above the fork of a large branch, making a porch that was steady and serviceable.

Danny opened the door, only to find that it was jammed and beaten shut; even unlocked, he couldn't open it.

Danny looked down at the assembled group of jocks and preps.

"Um... Dash, come up here and help me with this!" he requested.

Dash hesitated, then scrambled up the wing as Danny had done, joining the boy on the branch with mercifully no disagreement.

"Here, help me push," Danny said, indicating the door.

"Hah, I could do it alone!" Dash scoffed. "Only a weakling like you, Fentina, would need help!"

"Well, then," Danny said, moving away. "By all means, Dash, do it yourself!"

Danny hadn't realized just how much he liked the power of intangibility until that moment.

Dash heaved and pushed on the door, but to no avail; the door remained as unmoving as ever.

Danny watched smugly. "Now still think you don't need my help, Dash?" he asked.

Dash scowled, but relented. "Fine. But only 'cause I'm tired from the storm."

"Of course you are," Danny sighed, going to help the jock. Danny braced his shoulder against the door and shoved at the same time as Dash.

The door creaked in protest, then suddenly gave way, swinging in on its hinges and sending both boys toppling inside the plane, Dash on top of Danny.

"Get _off_ of me, Dash!" Danny said, shoving the boy off of him.

"Watch it, Fenton!" Dash growled. "Or you'll be sorry!"

"What are you going to do, Dash? Stuff me in a locker? Shove my head down a toilet?" Danny asked mockingly, knowing that the island was unlikely to have either of Dash's favorite punishments available.

He left Dash to ponder that out for himself and looked around the airplane. The interior was in shambles, although it was not as bad as the outside. Debris and some broken glass littered the floor, but the plane was sturdy enough. It had been wedged in between the boughs of three trees, holding it firmly in place. The windows that had shattered would let in the terrible gale, although the door to the cockpit could be shut to prevent wind and rain coming in that way. Danny noticed the significant absence of the parachutes, hinting that the passenger's may have survived. Danny could only hope.

He saw, among the palm fronds and leaves inside the plane, several of the personal items of the passengers. Danny walked around. He found the still-tangled Fenton Fisher and the broken Jack-o-Nine Tails his father had brought along, as well as several of his parent's other inventions. There was the Fenton Machete, which Danny set aside just in case. The Fenton Ghost Disabler had gone, presumably fallen out of the plane and into the ocean. More personal items included Sam's hair-tie, the battered remains of a PDA, and Jazz's Bearbert Einstein. Under one seat Danny found the Fenton Thermos he had brought along; intact, but empty.

He bit his lip and ran over a mental inventory of the ghosts who had been inside. The Box Ghost, for one. There was also Skulker, as he remembered, Technus (although the lack of technology on a desert island was comforting in this case), Desiree, and the usual assortment of random nameless ghosts. Danny kicked himself for not remembering to empty it before they left. His only consolation was that the ghosts had probably been disabled by the Fenton Ghost Disabler along with himself. He could only hope.

Danny sighed and turned back to Dash.

"Well?" the jock asked. "Are we staying here?"

Danny nodded, then left Dash to climb back out of the door, where he took a sturdy dangling vine and slid down the wing like a slide.

"Okay," he said. "The plane looks like it'll work, but it's a little messy, and there're a few windows missing, so we'll have to do something about those."

"Are you sure we have to stay in that..." Paulina grimaced, searching for suitable words. "Dump?"

Thunder rumbled in the distance, causing several people to jump. Danny shook his head at Paulina.

"It's either that or get killed by a hurricane." He handed her the vine. "Ladies first."

* * *

And there you have it! Believe it or not, this was longer than last chapter, but the rambling author notes made that one seem longer than this. Haha, that's sad. It really is.

I honestly hope the characters didn't seem too OOC in this. Originally this and next chapter were one and the same, but I decided I liked this set-up better. Still need to work on my other stories… But now I'm in the eighth chapter of this, so does it matter? And I'd give you a preview of next chapter, I really would, but nothing happens in it that makes it so suspenseful you'll be tempted to kill and/or maim me, so that will just have to wait until next chapter, hm?

But for now, can someone answer this question? Everyone writes that Paulina's last name is Sanchez, and nothing else, but I can't recall actually hearing it in the show… So, I ask you, did I miss something, or is that just popular opinion?

I'll blabber your ears off later. See ya, my beloved readers, and even more beloved reviewers!

-E.P.


	3. Chapter 2: Tempest tossed

Here, this is a bit later than I originally intended… But the important thing is that it's here, right? Exactly.

Thanks to all my reviewers, especially for answering my question. Good to know for future reference…

As it goes… The show only mentions the names of a handful of students who are currently with Danny on the island, so I'll be making some names up for the random unnamed students who flock the halls of Casper High. Which, I'm sure, you won't be too bothered about.

And so we have the third chapter…

* * *

**Chapter 2: Tempest-tossed**

* * *

**_T_**he hurricane raged full force against the decrepit wreck of a plane.

Inside was little better, but the plane, whatever else it was, kept the small bedraggled group of jocks, cheerleaders, and Danny dry (mostly), warm (enough), and safe (if not afraid).

The amount of work they had accomplished in the short time was amazing; broken and intact windows alike had been boarded up with fallen branches and bamboo rods, the chinks filled in with mud. The inside was little better than had been, but the broken glass had been swept away, and the items which were so useless and decrepit that it would have been a sin to not burn them had been left to the mercy of the hurricane. The rest of the items in the plane were piled in a corner to await use or disposal as was necessary.

The stranded students now sat upon the cushioned seats, jumping at thunder, wind gusts, and the creaking plane.

Danny sat drumming his fingers upon a cup holder, sitting near the front of the plane and towards the cockpit and its closed door, through the chinks of which wind whistled and combined with the deep drum-like booms of thunder and the pattering of rain, mingling to create a symphony of the storm.

Danny was restless. It was perhaps because of his heroic nature that he disliked waiting; sitting and not taking action. But there was nothing to do during a hurricane but to wait it out.

Danny got to his feet and clasped his hands behind his back, pacing in the most stereotypical method imaginable up and down the aisle of the plane.

He was worried, to say the least, preoccupied perhaps being the more correct word. He wasn't terribly bothered about the hurricane. He had, after all, faced worse than a little thunderstorm, and the plane was a stable if not pleasant shelter. Still, when the occasional gust of the roaring storm caused the plane to sway and the cheerleaders to scream, Danny tensed until the fuselage settled, creaking and groaning and pattering with the rain, once more.

Danny did not have his ghost powers, though that was perhaps both blessing and curse. Blessing for the fact that, if he didn't have his powers thanks to the Fenton Ghost Disabler, Vlad--wherever he was--didn't either. That, and also the fact that he couldn't slip up by accidentally phasing through something. But Danny had never been without his ghost powers since the accident, except the time when he had been stranded in the Colorado Rockies at the mercy of Vlad and his Plasmius Maximus. Danny felt somewhat...empty, without his ghost powers, as if part of himself were missing. That part of himself was numb, like when one's foot has fallen asleep from lack of circulation, and cannot be felt but for the funny tingling feeling of pins and needles as the numbness slowly recedes.

Danny turned sharply at the end of the aisle, with a briskness that was almost military, and turned to pace back down to the front of the plane.

Then, without warning, his foot caught, and he tripped. Danny knew who it was before he looked up.

"Dash, you moron!" he muttered angrily as he got to his feet, rubbing his elbow where it had collided with the floor of the plane. He rounded on Dash furiously.

"We're in the middle of a hurricane, on a deserted island, and you can't lay off of me for five minutes!" Danny shouted, with such sharpness that Dash actually cringed. Danny continued, venting on the unfortunate bully. "No! Of course you can't! We could be stuck here for the rest of our lives, we could be eaten by snakes or lions or who knows what else, even attacked by ghosts! For all I know, my family could be dead... Drowned, eaten, struck by lightning, whatever, and all you can think of doing is tormenting poor helpless Danny Fenton like you do every day at school!"

The plane was entirely silent, even the storm seemed to have been quieted by Danny's outburst. Then, without warning, one of the cheerleaders, whose name Danny didn't know, burst into tears. If anything, Danny seemed more surprised by this than the students had been by his verbal assault on Dash.

"W-w-we're g-going to b-be stuck here f-forever! W-we're going to d-die on th-this island! I j-just want to g-go home!" the girl sobbed.

"There, there," Star comforted, patting the girl on her back. "It's okay, Veronica."

Danny bit his lip and looked away. He'd never seen a girl break down like that and start crying. It rather unnerved him, and he didn't know what to do.

"N-n-no!" Veronica cried, pulling away from Star. "D-Danny's right! W-we aren't g-going to s-s-survive. It's h-hopel-l-less!"

Danny shook his head, and moved over to the crying girl, his heroic nature and innate sense of protection and survival taking over. How many times had he faced down danger, stared certain death in the eyes? Been in a hopeless situation, and struggled out on top? He was, after all, the hero, ghost powers or no.

"Star's right," he said, in what he hoped was a compassionate voice. He hadn't really had much experience with this sort of thing, and was really just winging it. "Everything's going to be fine." Veronica gave one watery-eyed look up at him, before burying her face in her arms again.

"H-how do you know? You s-said it yourself, w-we could be k-killed, or eaten, or d-d-drowned!" she said, her words muffled from a combination of tears and her arms obscuring her mouth.

"You're right," Danny said, looking down at his feet. "I don't know. I'm fourteen, I really don't know much of anything. But," he said, his voice growing more confident, "I do know that if you give up, losing is practically inevitable. But we'll find a way off this island, one way or another. I mean... While there's life, there's hope, right?"

"Of course!" Paulina said. "Danny Phantom fights giant evil ghosts all the time, and _he_ doesn't give up! He even beats them all single-handedly. Why, I bet if _he_ were here, we'd be off this island like _that_." Paulina snapped her fingers as she said '_that'_.

"Oh, the irony..." Danny muttered to himself.

"What did you say, Danny?" Paulina asked inquisitively.

"Oh, uh, um...nothing! Anyway," Danny said, trying to casually brush off questions, "Veronica... It is Veronica, isn't it?" A nod from the girl. "Well... Paulina's right, too. I- uh, Danny Phantom has faced down all kinds of evil ghosts bent on destroying him and wreaking havoc on the town, and I was...Uh, I'm sure that he was afraid a few times--a _lot_ of times--but the point is that even when I- _he,_ was trying to get rid of the Fright Night, he didn't quit! And he didn't give up either when Pariah Dark was invading the town with his skeleton army, and, uh, I'm not sure if I would have had the courage to get into my parent's ectoskeleton when it hadn't been calibrated. And when he was facing down his jerky future self with the lives of his family and friends at risk, he never- oh, wait, uh... Never mind that last one." Danny sighed at the confused faces. Thunder rumbled somewhere outside, but it seemed detached, otherworldly, as if it were merely on television. "Ah, anyway, the point is- well, it's that, we can't give up, because if we do, we'll never get off this island."

Danny stopped, feeling as if he should say more, or end his speech with a catchy and encouraging phrase or slogan. He looked around the plane, purposefully staring anywhere but the faces of the students, and subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck, wondering if he had overdone it, or let slip too much. The occasional slips to 'I' in reference to his secret identity, coupled with his description of the horrible encounter of a few months back which Danny Fenton should _never_ have known about seemed just a little too suspicious... Then again, he was possibly being paranoid...

A clap rang suddenly through the plane, and Danny jumped, at first thinking it to be thunder. But then it was repeated again, and again... Danny blinked and looked up; Veronica was clapping, the faint shadows of tear streaks running down her face, her eyes red but dry, and _clapping_. Then the clapping became irregular as it was picked up by first Paulina, then Starla, then Kwan and another cheerleader whose name Danny did not know, several more of the jocks, and soon the plane interior was resounding with applause, which drowned out the roar of the hurricane. And Danny looked over to see that even Dash had joined it.

Whether it was minutes, hours, or days later that the clapping finally died down, Danny didn't know. He was too bewildered by the fact that the most popular students in Casper High School were applauding him--_him_, Danny Fenton, C-student geek, freak, and nerd.

The room was quiet, and expectant. Tense and charged with energy, just as it had been before the lightning strike, but this energy did not have a hard metallic taste, nor did it make Danny's hair stand on end. Danny felt a brief twinge inside himself, like the hand of a friend on his shoulder, and knew somehow that it was his ghost half, encouraging him just as he had encouraged the students: with hope, and courage, and reassurance. And then it was gone, and Danny was left unsure whether or not he had imagined it.

"So, now what, Danny?" Veronica asked. Her voice quavered, but was strong and expressed complete confidence in Danny.

"Uh... Well, I guess we should decide what to do when this storm ends..." Danny suggested.

"Good idea, Danny," Paulina approved. Danny couldn't help but blush. What could he say, old habits died hard, and, considering that he used to blush every time Paulina glanced in his general direction, that was an improvement.

"Wait, who said Fenton should be our leader?" Dash protested.

"I do," Paulina said pointedly.

"Yeah, but shouldn't we, you know, make it official? Like, vote on it, or something?" Kwan suggested.

"Okay, let's vote on it," Star said, climbing up onto a seat and showing an aptitude for leadership none would have formerly thought the satellite possessed. "All in favor, say 'aye'!"

A chorus of 'aye's rang through the plane.

"All opposed?"

Not a single 'nay' was uttered.

"There you have it! Danny has the floor," Star said, getting off of the seat and indicating that Danny should have the seat--and the floor.

"Okay," Danny said, climbing atop of the makeshift podium. "So, uh, any suggestions?"

Blank stares. Then one of the cheerleaders timidly spoke up:

"Well, I uh, was thinking, that in all those movies where people are like, stranded on islands, they start a fire so someone will see them."

Danny nodded, and could have slapped himself in the face. It was so obvious; why hadn't he thought of that!

"Okay, good idea, uh... What's your name?"

"Ashley," the blonde girl who had spoken said shyly.

"But what about things like food, and water?" Kwan asked. "I think I heard somewhere about people not being able to survive for a few days without water."

Danny nodded. "So, we need a fire, and food, and water..." he said. "Hey, does anyone have some paper, and a pen?"

One of the jocks near the stack which had been made from the intact items from within the plane rummaged around until he came up with a notepad labeled 'Fenton Paper', and a pen which had been Jazz's. He handed them to Danny.

"Thanks. So, uh..." Danny uncapped the pen and prepared to write. But he hesitated before the pen touched the paper. "Actually, I don't have that great of handwriting. Does someone want to be like a secretary, or something?"

"I will," Veronica said. Danny handed the paper and pen to her, and she listed _fire, food_ and _water_.

"Okay," Danny said, turning back to the group. "Now what?"

* * *

**_T_**he assembly of students debated for a long time. The list of suggestions and necessities grew longer as the discussion continued on, several of the less attentive people drifting off to sleep, until, during a lull in the discussion, Danny halted the group.

"Hang on, do you hear that?" he asked.

"What?" several people replied, cocking their ears and fearing the worst.

* * *

For the record, I got more than just a little carried away with this chapter. Oh well. We all know how great Danny is, right? Really, how many of us don't have Danny shrines in our closets? Um, I'm not saying _I_ do, of course, heheh… Well, actually, I don't, because there simply isn't enough room in my closet for a shrine of any size… But if there was…

Uh, right. So, I'm off to go write '_I am not a rabid fangirl,' _over and over again. Heheheh…heh…heheh…

Bonus preview for next chapter, which shall be called '**Evacuation**':

_He reached for the vine as the branch cracked and creaked...then snapped!_

_Danny lost hold of the vine, and it swung out of reach. The plane hung, supported only by two branches on the opposite side. Then it leaned, angling the side Danny was on downward._

_More creaks and groans, and the sound of popping. The plane tilted even more, Danny barely keeping his balance._

_Another loud crack, and the plane, supported now by a single branch, leaned forward even further._

_The final limb snapped with a deafening crack, just as Danny jumped…_

There, I think that's enough evil suspense for one day. My work here is done. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! (Oh, and by the way, do you like my evil laugh? I've been practicing ;)

-E.P.


	4. Chapter 3: Evacuation

Hey, everyone.

School has officially scared me. Well.. More than usual, that is. Someone had the bright idea of decorating the halls with painted paper for the new semester. Which is fine, the hall with my lockers has penguins, and even if they're kinda creepy looking, they're still penguins, so I'm not complaining about that. No. What scared me the most was the fact that the main hall has been decorated with clocks for the theme of going back in time or whatever it is. And after watching TUE again yesterday... (_shudders_) Green and red and purple clocks... Why'd they have to use those colors? They look exactly like Clockworks abode! Wah! I'm even somewhat tempted to make a time medallion out of cardboard and wear it tomorrow... It's that creepy!

Ah... moment of terror over, doumo to the readers, arigatou to the reviewers, and douzo for the chapter.

(doumo and arigato both mean thank you; douzo translates to 'here you go')

Bleh. I use too much Japanese. Maybe I should go to something like, oh I dunno, French? Merci, monsier/mademoiselle? (Mmph, Iknow, I spelled those wrong.) To prove that I'm actually taking the class, and not an anime-obsessed person who throws in random Japanese words:

Kaki no ki (w)okashite kudasai. Meh, I just asked to borrow a persimmon tree. Yah. Rambling shall stop. Story:

* * *

**Chapter 3: Evacuation**

* * *

"**_W_**-what do you hear?" Dash asked fearfully. 

"I don't hear anything!" Star exclaimed.

Danny nodded. "Exactly."

And indeed, not a sound could be heard. No wind, no rain, no thunder. Which meant...

"The storm's over!" Danny said, jumping up from the chair and moving towards the door. He opened it cautiously, just a crack. Sunlight streamed in. Danny flung the door open all the way. Everyone inside the plane cheered loudly.

The treetops were bathed in sunlit glory, the occasional parrot or macaw croaking out a burst of song. The air was clear and crisp as it always was after a rainstorm, fresh and with a faint lingering smell of rain, mixed with salt from the nearby ocean, the rich smell of damp soil, and the leafy scent of plants.

But the hurricane's rage was evident: branches hung brokenly from trees, leaves and palm fronds plastered to them. But most startling of all was the water. It had somehow managed to rise up into the forest from the heavy rainfall, leaving various shells, seaweed and driftwood littered on the forest floor, which had become nothing short of a swamp. Many places were thick with a muddy black ooze, and many more were submerged under anywhere from an inch to a foot of water. Soggy leaves floated limply upon the surface of these oily puddles, clung to the mud, and lay scattered and waterlogged on the rare patch of somewhat-dry ground.

Danny stepped out onto the doorstep of a limb, surveying the storm's damage to the plane. It was even worse than it had previously; the whole tail had been ripped off, as had part of the remaining wing. The fuselage itself was so beaten and dented it was barely recognizable as an airplane at all, looking much more like a lump of metal that a blacksmith had beaten randomly--although no blacksmith could make anything as horrendous as the plane, whether purposefully or accidentally.

There was another problem, too, one much more serious than a wrecked plane. Two of the five sturdy limbs which had originally supported the plane had snapped off; one coated in muck and the other half-submerged in an oily puddle. And the branch Danny was standing on was creaking ominously.

Danny didn't know much about physics, but he did know that the three small branches which remained were insufficient to support the plane. Should the one he was standing on break, the entire structure would fall to the ground. And the ground was quite a long way down.

Danny stepped cautiously inside the plane, where the students had been celebrating raucously. He cleared his throat, and the noise almost immediately died down. Danny certainly would have been impressed, and rather surprised, if not for the sudden graveness of the situation.

"I kind of hate to break up this celebration..." he said, "but this plane isn't going to hold up here much longer. We need to get out, and fast!"

The mood in the plane changed so quickly it was as if someone had changed the channel on a television.

"W-what do we do?" Star asked nervously.

"Um..." Danny said, trying to compose a plan quickly. "Well, we need to get out of this airplane. Uh... Everyone, get over to that pile of stuff we made and get what you think you'll need the most, then get out. And watch your step, too. It's a little slippery, and part of the wing's missing."

There was a long moment of silence, then the plane exploded into action. Danny hurried over to the pile of items they had gathered. They couldn't take all of it, of course, but some things they would need if they were to survive in the jungle.

Danny was quick to find the backpack he had taken onto the plane. He stuffed it quickly with several of his parent's more useful inventions, 'accidentally' dropping the Ghost Gabber out of a nearby window. It was, after all, entirely useless. Danny also grabbed Jazz's Bearbert--he had a feeling she'd want the little bear back. A few more things seemed necessary to grab, and then his backpack was full. He shouldered the purple bag and then sorted out through which things might be useful in the jungle from which things were not, helping other people to hurry in the process.

Then Danny hurried over to the door, helping the few people who remained out of the plane.

Paulina hesitated when she looked at the muddy ground.

"I don't really think-" she began. Danny shook his head and shoved a vine to her, for the purpose of climbing down on. The plane creaked and shifted slightly, and Danny forced the remaining people to evacuate at a faster pace. Ten left, then five, then three, two...

And then, he was the only one left aboard the plane. He reached for the vine as the branch cracked and creaked...then snapped!

Danny lost hold of the vine, and it swung out of reach. The plane hung, supported only by two branches on the opposite side. Then it leaned, angling the side Danny was on downward.

More creaks and groans, and the sound of popping. The plane tilted even more, Danny barely keeping his balance.

Another loud crack, and the plane, supported now by a single branch, leaned forward even further.

The final limb snapped with a deafening crack, just as Danny jumped, pushing himself away from the plane so it would not fall on top of him. He landed in the mud, falling forward and throwing out his hands to break the fall.

The plane crashed to the ground behind him, splashing filthy water over the assembled students and sinking deeply into the mud on the left side--the side which had the only door. Had they not evacuated, they would have surely been trapped inside the plane.

Danny got to his feet and brushed himself off, but in reality this only spread the mud on him even more. Grimacing, he turned to address his companions.

"So, now what?" Kwan asked.

"Deeper into the jungle, I think," Danny said grimly.

"But," Paulina said, throwing the jungle a fearful glance, "shouldn't we head towards the ocean? There's water there."

Danny shook his head wearily. "No. We can't drink salt water, and there's probably not much of a beach left." He looked into the emerald depths of the jungle. "Into the forest it is."

* * *

For the record, this was a short chapter. But, it got the job done. And not a very evil suspenseful cliffhanger there… Tut tut, I must be loosing my touch!

Anyway, before I go off and mutter to myself, I've decided that I like giving previews for the next chapter. Particularly as I have the story about half finished already ;)

_**Scales and Sand:**_

_He skidded to the halt, sending a spray of mud flying. Paulina had been halted by a large snake which had apparently dropped down out of the overhanging branches. Vibrant green scales and a back pattern of black dots and lines adorned thick coils. Its mouth was open and it bared fangs in a venomous hiss, forked tongue snaking in and out from between the needle-sharp teeth._

_Without thinking, Danny lunged at the snake, hitting it with the flat side of the machete. The blow stunned it momentarily and it fell from the tree._

_Recovering quickly, however, the snake's head rose up, powerful coils bunched and fangs glinting with murderous intent. A clear drop glistened from the end of one of them--poison?_

_Danny wielded the Fenton Machete, instinctively falling into a fighting stance. The snake's head moved side to side, black tongue flitting out. Then, with no warning, it struck._

Hm, and THAT seems long enough to be going on with, doesn't it? (_throws head back and cackles maniacally_) Mwa-ha-ha! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Okay, there Nonny, is THAT better for ya?

-E.P.


	5. Chapter 4: Scales and Sand

Hello, everyone! I guess you're wondering why it took me so long to update... Well...that's a bit of a story. I've been pretty preoccupied, what with the cancellation (_sniff_),and, seeing as there's a HUGE cliffy at the end of this chapter, I've decided that the more merciful thing to do would be to leave you waiting at that not-so-evil ending last chapter rather than... Well, you'll see it when you read it ;)

Ah... 'Micro Management'... Proves that Dash really isn't that smart. Great for my plot in this, though. I was beaming the whole way through it... Except for the part with the mouse. Acursed inspiration... When they ended up in the mousehole, there was I... 'Hah, now look, there's gonna be a huge mouse in there...' Of course, that was utterly predictable, if you've seen a single scary movie. But THEN I banged my head down on the coffee table, and said to my sister... "Ah, great, just _great_... As if I needed any more inspiration to do that dumb fanfiction... Now, watch, Danny's gonna overshadow that rat or something and make it even worse...' And then, of course: 'OH NO YOU DIDN'T! Danny, how _could_ you?' So... What's this mean? It means that I'm going to be battling against the allure of a crossover with Redwall... And STILL drawing pictures of a mouse Danny... (_fumes_) And to make matters even worse... Underlaying my thoughts throughout the episode was the mental countdown... _Only 18 episodes left_... And the horrible impressions that this would envoke the Danny/Dash shippers... (_eye twitches_)

Okay... Yeah, I know, rambling, ranting, meaningless blabber... ALL must stop. The best thing about that, though, was being followed by 'Bitter Reuinions'... THTTF will be going very nicely thanks to that. A Friday of glorious fanfiction inspiration... And some not-so-glorious crossover fic inspiration. Eh, ahem... Stopping now.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Scales and Sand**

* * *

**_T_**he students hiked through the mud, deep into the jungle, with Danny in the lead. The foliage had actually become so thick that a trail was impossible and he'd had to cut through it with the Fenton Machete. Danny couldn't help but thinking with a smile, _Good thing I had the Fenton Machete tucked away just in case._

The group trudged onwards, following the trail blazed by Danny and sticking close together. They plodded onwards in silence occasionally punctuated by the snap of a twig or the rustle of leaves.

"EEEEEEE!" someone shrieked from the near the end of the short line.

Danny looked back sharply at the scream, then ran down the line, brushing against twigs and cutting himself on a few thorns as he rushed to the back of the group.

He skidded to the halt, sending a spray of mud flying. Paulina had been halted by a large snake which had apparently dropped down out of the overhanging branches. Vibrant green scales and a back pattern of black dots and lines adorned thick coils. Its mouth was open and it bared fangs in a venomous hiss, forked tongue snaking in and out from between the needle-sharp teeth.

Without thinking, Danny lunged at the snake, hitting it with the flat side of the machete. The blow stunned it momentarily and it fell from the tree.

Recovering quickly, however, the snake's head rose up, powerful coils bunched and fangs glinting with murderous intent. A clear drop glistened from the end of one of them--poison?

Danny wielded the Fenton Machete, instinctively falling into a fighting stance. The snake's head moved side to side, black tongue flitting out. Then, with no warning, it struck.

Danny leapt away only just in time, the snake catching the very hem of his shirt and ripping it, but nothing else. The snake lunged again, Danny rolling out of the way and resurfacing coated in mud. A third time the snake struck, and Danny leaped backwards, the Fenton Machete flashing as it severed the snake's head.

"Okay," Danny said, stuffing the machete into his belt and kicking the snake's body into the undergrowth. He was trembling almost as much as Paulina. Trying to act as if nothing had happened, Danny swallowed hard and returned to the lead. "Let's keep moving."

* * *

**_T_**he next few hours passed as silent as they had before, the group coming out into a relatively dry clearing as the sun was beginning to dip. 

Danny sighed and sat down upon a rock. "Let's stop here," he said, and got no argument. Danny, was tired, being unaccustomed to walking for a long amount of time, usually preferring to fly for longer-distance trips. He still wasn't as tired as some people, such as Paulina, who rarely participated in anything more strenuous than shopping, collapse immediately upon the first dry patch of ground they could find. Others--including Dash, much to Danny's distaste--were used to doing much walking and seemed less tired, or at least hid it better.

But Danny had a duty as the leader, and got up after only a brief respite.

"Okay, so we should probably spend the night here. First things first, we need water. If anyone could volunteer to go find some, take bottles or cups or something... But go in groups! We don't know what else could be out there," Danny warned. The people who had volunteered, which included Veronica, much to the surprise of many, nodded and paired up.

"Now, we should start a fire, if anyone wants to- Okay, Kwan, you and Star figure that out. Bang some rocks together or something. And, let me see... we'll need some other people to get firewood," Danny continued. "And I guess I'll help do that. I think that's all, then. Uh, don't go too far. We don't want anyone to get lost!"

Danny left to gather firewood, but was almost instantly hailed by a shout.

"Fenton! Wait up!"

Danny turned to see Dash. "Dash? What?"

"Well," Dash said, catching up to him, "didn't you say we're supposed to go in groups?"

"Uh, yeah," Danny said.

"Well, shouldn't you be with someone?"

Danny sighed. Yes, he probably should. But did it have to be Dash? "Sure, I guess..."

"Great," Dash answered, falling into step beside Danny. But, oddly enough, he seemed like he had something on his mind. Dash and Danny walked for a few minutes in complete silence, stopping here and there to collect a dry branch from the ground.

"Uh, Fenton? Can I ask you something?" Dash asked as Danny bent to pick up a branch.

Danny straightened with the branch in his hand, and blinked, wondering what this was about. "Uh, sure."

"Well, uh, it's just about that thing with the snake and everything... Weren't you scared?"

"Uh, well, not really..." Danny said.

"What!" Dash exclaimed, clearly incredulous. "But, that was a giant poisonous snake! And you just killed it like it was nothing!"

"Just a tree snake..." Danny muttered.

"_Just a tree snake?_" Dash repeated. "That must have been, like, ten feet long!"

Danny shrugged, and stooped to pick up another piece of wood. "I had the Fenton Machete."

"But you kept dodging it..." Dash argued. "Why don't you ever do that in dodgeball?"

Danny nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Well... That's just a game. I guess when it's a poisonous viper it's different."

"And, another thing..." Dash said.

"What?" Danny grunted.

"Well... It's just that... You've been doing that kind of weird stuff a lot lately, Fenton. Like falling out of a plane and living! Twice! And, well... Did you get like, super powers or something from being hit by lightning?"

Danny dropped the wood he had been carrying, laughing fit to burst from the sheer irony of the statement. It had been the other way around!

"Dash," Danny said, once he'd stopped laughing enough to talk, "it's only in the movies that people get super powers from being hit by lightning. Besides, I'm just plain old ordinary Danny Fenton."

Dash frowned. "But... You've been doing all that-"

Danny shook his head, still laughing as he gathered up the firewood he had dropped. "No. Really, it just comes from having parents who are always hunting ghosts. Once my mom and I were lost in the Rockies, anyway, it's not that different."

"Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense..." Dash said. Danny nodded furiously, and they resumed gathering firewood.

They soon had about as much as they could carry, and were about to head back.

"Hang on... Let me just get that last piece, over there," Danny said, pointing to a stout stick on a sandy patch of ground.

Danny readjusted the bundle he was carrying, then walked over to get it, his shoes sticking slightly in the mud.

"Mud, mud, and more mud... Is there anything else on this island?" he muttered, trying to pull his feet free from the sucking mud. But he couldn't. His shoes sunk deeper into the muck. Frowning angrily, Danny tried wrenching his left foot free, only to find he couldn't, and instead only succeeded in dropping the bundle of wood he had been carrying. Danny's eyes widened as he saw the wood sink into the ground, and transferred his gaze to his own legs.

He was past his ankles in the sandy mud, and still sinking. Danny gulped and looked up at Dash, who was watching with an expression of mingled confusion and horror.

Danny uttered a single word as he looked back down at the misleading patch of ground.

"Quicksand!"

* * *

See? Cliffie, what'd I tell you? Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

Yeah, I've reverted to my original not-so-good evil laugh. So sue me. I'm tired. And computer literacysucks.

Okay... No preview. Why? I utterly refuse to give away how this quicksand thing will come out... Let's just say Danny's gotten in a little _over his head_, hm?

Now on to sadder matters... _(shuffles note cards_) As we all know, Danny Phantom will be cancelled at 53 episodes. My response to this was thus:

1. Exclaim,'WHAT!'  
2. Bang head on keyboard  
3. Print out full 'speech' by Butch Hartman after a lengthy web search (for one who spends so much time online, I am sadly inept as far a finding stuff goes...)  
4. Draw a ton of sad pictures... Beginning with Danny (as a ghost) sitting on his own tombstone, then on to a statue of Danny, basically like those ones in TUE ('Gone but not forgotten'), then on to Dark Dan destroying Nickelodeon studios in response... after such I had to draw my fourth 'Dark Dan in pink bunny suit' picture, and finally ending with the first picture of Danny I have EVER drawn in which I have gotten both his shoes and his hair right, not to mention everything proportionally correct... So, I guess all that random, heart-felt drawing paid off.  
5. Write a letter

Don't take these steps, please, people... Just write the letter! 'Cause if we all write letters... Nick won't be able to ignore ALL of those, will they? 'Xactly my point. Get out those pens and WRITE!

Okay... I know, I'm not that motivational. How's this for additional motivation: keep those pens out after your letters, and review my story. I'll also try to post links to petitions and the like on my profile... Viva la Danny Phantom!

-E.P.


	6. Chapter 5: Quicksand

Hello, comrades, friends, readers, reviewers, people, ghosts, halfas (I KNOW you're reading this, Danny!), and my dad, who is reading over my shoulder as I type... Heheh, thought I wouldn't catch you, now, did you?

So, reviewers! I thanketh thee! Particularly ye to whom I have not replied... Eheh, I think it was about three or four people. It's really just 'cause I didn't have anything to say to your review, other than 'thank you' several thousand times. Hm, maybe I should beginacknowledging my reviewers here, like some people do...? Mmm, either way, thanks guys!

Ah, anyway... Busy Sunday, busy Monday, but this is Tuesday. Late starts on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. No school until 11:00... somebody pinch me! OW! Hey, that hurts :( But I won't be too happy next year, when I'm a sophmore and being forced to take all these insane tests they give us... (_shudders_)

Ahh... Anyway, such goes my life. And such continues my story:

**

* * *

Chapter 5: Quicksand

* * *

**

**_D_**ash hurried towards Danny.

"No!" Danny hissed. "Don't! You'll just end up stu-"

Too late, though. Dash was now in the quicksand, stuck and sinking.

"Darn it, Dash..." Danny muttered. He was in past his knees by now, and sinking fast. Frantically, Danny tried to go intangible--before he remembered that he couldn't. He tried to move, but he was stuck, the sinking sand pulling Danny down. If they didn't get out soon, they would be pulled beneath the surface, and drown.

"Help!" Danny called frantically. "Someone! HELP!"

Dash joined Danny, shouting as well.

In up to his waist now, Danny was beginning to panic. "_HELP!_" he cried, louder than ever.

"I think it's coming from over here!" a voice called faintly.

Moments later, Veronica and one of Dash's gang, named Ryan, burst through some bushes with a bucket and two water bottles full of water.

"Ohmygosh!" Veronica yelled. "What happened to you?"

"Quicksand..." Dash said. He was in up to his waist now, Danny up to his stomach. Ryan moved forward.

"No!" Danny called. "That's how Dash got stuck."

"But how-"

"Not now!" Danny snapped. "Just find a way to get us out of this mess!"

"Um... Okay..." Veronica said.

"What's all the yelling for?" a voice asked. Paulina appeared in the clearing, accompanied by Ashley, who was carrying twice the amount of firewood she should have been, Paulina carrying none.

"Us!" Dash said frantically. "Now help!"

"But, we don't know how to-" Ryan began.

"The firewood," Danny said, the quicksand nearing chest level.

Ashley held out her double-sized stack. "You mean this? What for?"

"A long- branch-" Danny gasped. The quicksand was pushing in on him, drawing him even further under and the viscosity making it hard to breathe.

"Oh! Of course!" Veronica said. She quickly looked through the stack until she found the longest branch they had; almost four feet long.

Ryan took the branch and held it out. Dash grabbed the end, and he pulled.

"It's no good," he panted. "It's too heavy!"

Veronica rushed to his aid. Dash was pulled free with a loud sucking sound, and clambered onto solid ground with relief.

"Good. Now-_unhff_-me," Danny panted. He was almost in up to his neck now.

The branch extended towards him, and Danny reached out. But his hands fell short. He had simply sunk too far down, and the branch was inches shy; so close it was almost painful.

Danny stretched his arms out further, brushing the very tip of the branch. But that was all. He sunk lower, up to his neck.

Dash took the end of the branch from Ryan and leaned stepped forward to the very edge of the quicksand. "Hold me," he told the other four. Ryan and Veronica held onto him, anchoring Dash to the ground as he advanced into the quicksand.

Danny was up past his chin by now, and barely able to see due to the angle his head was forced to be at to allow breath. His arms flailed wildly in the air--and came in contact with something wooden! Danny grabbed hold and took a deep breath, just as his head went under.

With Danny holding onto the stick for dear life, Dash pulled Danny, and Ryan and Veronica pulled Dash. But Dash was beginning to sink into the quicksand, and it was slowly winning; dragging all three into the sinking sand as well.

"We need to help!" Ashley exclaimed, throwing her bundle of wood into the air and hurrying over to grab hold of Veronica's waist.

"But what if I get dragged into there, too?" Paulina asked, eyeing the sinking sand nervously.

"PAULINA!" Ashley shrieked. Danny's hands could barely be seen above the surface, and Dash was already in up to his waist.

"Alright, alright," Paulina said. "No need to yell."

Paulina walked over to take hold of Ryan's waist, and pulled along with Ashley, Veronica, Ryan, and Dash. And slowly, ever so slowly, the tug-o-war was swinging around to their favor.

Finally, Danny was hauled back upon dry ground, gasping for air. Veronica offered him one of their water bottles, which Danny drank from thirstily.

"Whew," he said, wiping the clinging sand from his face so he could see. "That was just a little too close. So, still think I have super powers, Dash?"

Dash shook his head numbly. Danny got shakily to his feet.

"I guess you found water then, huh?" he asked Veronica and Ryan.

"There's a spring over there, on the other side of camp," Ryan replied, gesturing over his shoulder.

"Good. Yuck, I need to wash this stuff off," Danny said. He followed the lead of Ryan and Veronica to the camp, Paulina and Ashley trailing, Ashley once again left to bear the burden of firewood alone.

* * *

"**_W_**hoa, what happened to you guys?" Kwan asked from the smoldering beginnings of a fire. Danny shook his head wearily, too tired to explain. They passed through the camp and followed a trail someone had thoughtfully remembered to mark. 

The spring was small, water gushing from between a few rocks to pool in a depression between a pair of boulders. Danny entered the water and ducked his head under, the gritty quicksand washing off easily.

"How do you stand it?" Dash asked. "It's freezing!"

Danny shrugged in reply and got out of the small spring. The water was indeed freezing, but Danny, being half ghost, was used to the cold. Dash, being purely human, was not.

Dash frowned before entering the water, staying in only a few minutes and leaving shivering. He hurried back along the path, muttering something about not liking the cold.

Danny followed at a more leisurely pace, returning to camp to find Dash sitting so close to the fire it was a wonder he hadn't ignited, and telling the story of their dip in the quicksand. Danny sat down by the fire too, and was immediately bombarded by questions on what it was like to be submerged under quicksand. Danny waved off the questions with a shake of his head and pulled a spare shirt from his backpack.

"What!" Dash exclaimed as he saw Danny pull out the shirt. "You have extra clothes? No fair!"

"Take it easy Dash, I only have one extra shirt," Danny said. He pulled off his wet shirt, wrung it out and left it on a rock by the fire to dry, then pulled on the dry one.

"There," Danny said, wishing he could do something about his soggy pants.

"Wow, Danny," Paulina said, in a rather flattering voice, "when did you get so muscular?"

"Huh?" Danny asked. "Uh, I...don't...know."

"Hey," Kwan said, "since we have a fire and all, why don't we tell some scary stories?"

"Yeah!" Ashley agreed. "It'll be just like camping!"

"I'm not sure what's scarier than being stuck in quicksand..." Dash admitted.

"Hey, why don't you tell some stories, Danny?" Star asked. "I bet you know lots of good ghost stories!"

"Well, I don't really... I mean, they're really not all that..."

Paulina perked up. "You know that ghost boy, Inv- I mean, Danny Phantom, right, Danny?"

"Well, I uh... yeah."

"Then," she continued with an air of authority, "why don't you tell us a story about him?"

It was obvious that Paulina was dying to hear a story about the love of her life. But Danny frowned.

"I don't know..."

"Please?"

"Come on, Danny!" Veronica urged. "We all want to hear one!"

"Okay," Danny sighed, relenting. He searched his mind for a scary occurrence. Maybe the run-in with his evil self? No, that needed too much explanation. Finally deciding on an event, Danny began telling his tale.

"Well, it was last Halloween night..."

"Wait! Doesn't the story have a title?" Star asked.

"Oh! Uh, yeah. It's called, uh, it's called... The, uh, Legend of the Fright Night," Danny said. It wasn't the most creative title, but the group leaned closer, eager to hear the story.

"Anyway," Danny continued. "It was near midnight on last Halloween, when I- uh, Danny Phantom, was flying through the Ghost Zone..."

* * *

Hahah… Danny telling ghost stories. Why do I find that amusing? Ugh, I can find just about anything amusing. I can find a giant fire-breathing gorilla-whale amusing. (The giant fire-breathing gorilla-whale may be more commonly known to you as Godzilla. Such goes the Japanese translation…) 

…Or maybe, I'm just having fun portraying Dash as such. And the shirt-thing came from all those stories that involve Danny becoming noticeably more muscular. I couldn't resist adding to the piles of other stories, even if 'Micro Management' disagreed. Besides, this was written about a week before the episode actually aired... What kind of person would I be, to take out something that seemed perfectly good at the time, and fix it, just 'cause the show told me so?

Reviews are nice, if you happen to be reading and not reviewing. Although, I think, from now on, I'll only be replying to the reviews that I have something to say to, or if I need to answer a question. Mmph. I'll just end this now and spare you the torment of reading my rambles.

As always,  
-E.P.


	7. Chapter 6: The Fiendish Feline

(_edges into room, hiding behind new chapter_)

Eheh, hi, everyone... Um, yeah. REALLY sorry this was so late! I was busy, and then I was forgetful, and then I got sick, and... Well, now I'm still sick, but the chapter's here for y'all to read. Y'all. Great. Now I have a southern accent.

So, here's the chapter... For whatever it is. Eck, honestly, I don't like it all that much. And it seems all horribly OOC for some reason, and I didn't like it, and I kept going back and doing all this editing. Yet another reason for why the chapter's so late. (_sighs_)

Thankies to my wonderful reviewers, though! You guys're great, really! Yay reviewers! And as y'all (southern accent again...eep!) probably wanted, here's the chapter. Which, even though I don't really like it, is here for you to enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 6:The Fiendish Feline**

* * *

**_T_**he fire had died down to red embers, ash drifting hazily around the warm glow. Everyone was curled up in sleep around the fire—everyone, save Danny. 

The ghost boy lay on his back with his arms behind his head as a pillow, staring up at the moonless sky. The heavens were cloudless, all traces of the hurricane having retreated far north. And so all that was left were the stars, millions upon millions of stars. They were much more visible here than in Amity Park; not a single light existed for miles to outshine them. The sky was so vast that looking at it long enough gave you the feeling that you would fall into it, the eeriesensation that made it seem as if one was in the sky, looking down on a city full of sparkling lights.

A meteor flashed across the sky, momentarily burning a stark trail against deep black. Danny opened his mouth to make a wish—but caught himself before he spoke. Unpleasant experience had taught him to never make wishes. So, instead, continued staring up at the heavens he'd always been fascinated with, the night silent around him.

Silent?

Danny sat up quickly. The night was completely soundless. It was nice, but... There was something wrong. There should have been more noise, from animals or crickets or something—shouldn't there?

Something snapped behind him, like a twig being stepped on. Danny leapt to his feet, whirling around to where he had heard, or thought he had heard, the sound.

The clearing was well lit with stars, and better lit with the fire. But the jungle around it was a different matter, just at the edge of the faint glow of the fire and too dense to be pierced by the faint light of the stars.

Danny held up his hand to charge an ectoplasmic light. Nothing happened, yet another painful reminder of how little he could do without his ghost powers. There was only one thing to do, then. He seized a sizeable branch from beside the fire and jammed it into the embers. It took a few minutes before the branch ignited, and Danny raised it above his head, trying nervously to look in every direction at once.

Another twig snapped behind him, and Danny half-turned, half-jumped around, raising the torch before him. Nothing.

The hair on his neck prickled; there was something out there. What it was, he couldn't tell, but he didn't need his powers to tell it wasn't good.

He stood there, but for how much longer, he didn't know. A cricket chirped somewhere nearby. As if that were some signal, sound returned to the clearing; crickets, squeaking bats, and the call of some nocturnal animal. Danny breathed in relief; whatever it was, it was gone. He doused the branch in the bucket beside the fire, and lay back down.

Danny slept through the night, the Fenton Machete resting under his hand.

* * *

**_T_**he next day dawned brightly, all terror of the previous night forgotten. The new morning, however, brought a new problem to the table: food, and where to find it. 

There had been little food aboard the plane, and most of it had been snack food long since eaten or spoiled by the hurricane. Apart from a few energy bars and a small supply of Fenton Jerky, there was nothing to eat. And whatever food could be found on the island was either questionable or too high up in a tree to reach.

"I guess we'll just have to make do without," Danny sighed, gazing hungrily at a branch of bananas hanging just out of reach at the pinnacle of a tree. _If only I could just fly..._

Danny heard, quite clearly, a scream from off into the jungle. He whirled around.

"Who screamed?"

Everyone shook their heads and looked around. There was another scream, followed by a roar. A very loud roar.

"Maybe we should just... You know, leave?" Paulina suggested.

The person screamed again.

"Funny... That sounded like Foley, when I'm about to stuff him into his locker..." Dash mused.

"Wait a second..." Danny said, recognizing the scream as well. "That _was_ Tucker!"

He leapt up and grabbed the closest thing at hand: a stick that lay half-out of the fire. He ran off in the direction of the streams, following the stone-marked path that led to the spring.

When he arrived, he found the familiar sight of Tucker, his back flat against one of the large boulders that marked the spring.

A growl caught Danny's attention. Crouched before Tucker was an enormous jaguar!

Dark spots marked the thick fur all along the cat's body. Its tail twitched as it stalked, powerful shoulders moving in time to its steps.Yellowed fangs glinted in its mouth, and the two golden eyes were fixed on Tucker and something behind Tucker that Danny couldn't see from where he was standing.

"Get back, you mangy cat!" a voice called from beyond Tucker. A very familiar and despised voice, one that Danny was happy to hear carrying the sound of fear—something he had never heard in that particularly smooth voice.

Danny leapt towards the jaguar, brandishing his torch at the fiendish feline. The cat hissed and leapt back, the dancing flame reflected in the golden eyes.

"Danny?" Tucker cried in disbelief.

"Daniel?" Vlad asked.

"What, who'd you think it was?" Danny called over his shoulder. "Hang on, this'll just take a second!"

The ghost boy adjusted his grip on the torch and slashed at the jaguar. It hissed and backed away, clearly afraid of the dancing flames crackling upon the stick's end. Danny continued to swing the stick at the cat, backing it away from his friend and enemy.

The jaguar was backed into the second rock beside the spring, with nowhere to go. Driven back against the rock, it bared pointed teeth and growled. With no choice of retreat remaining, it did the one thing it could do: attack!

Danny stumbled backwards as the cat lunged, the feline landing atop of him and knocking the stick out of his grip. It rolled into the spring, where it was doused instantly.

And Danny was left with a large jaguar standing on him, clawing at his chest and trying to get to his throat as the boy tried to hold it back.

Danny had been in a similar situation as this one in the course of ghost fighting. He used the same trick he had then, kicking out with his legs and throwing the cat off of him. It landed on its back, momentarily stunned. Danny clambered to his feet as the jaguar rolled over onto its own. It lunged again, but, ready this time, Danny rolled aside. He ended up standing ankle deep in the spring.

Quickly, he grabbed the stick he had dropped with both hands and faced the cat again. The jaguar, however, was intent on getting Danny, and leapt forward again. Danny thrust the stick out vertically and caught the cat in its ribs, knocking it aside and into the spring. It got up yet again and glared at Danny with its yellow eyes. Danny stared back for a few seconds, before turning and doing the first thing he could think of: running back along the path to the camp.

"Danny? What're you-" someone shouted as he charged through the camp. He ignored whoever it was and ran onwards, the jaguar close behind, and continued into the deep jungle.

He risked a glance back over his shoulder, a glance he paid dearly for as he tripped and fell to the ground, just shy of a blank sandy area. In seconds the jaguar was upon him. But Danny rolled aside and the cat missed him by inches, momentum carrying it into the sandy clearing.

Shaking, the ghost boy got to his feet and picked up the stick, leaving the jaguar to suffer its fate in the quicksand.

* * *

"**_S_**o, Vlad, do you think that being attacked by a jaguar was some sort of sign? You know, like, maybe some higher power trying to tell you something? Maybe something to do with, oh, I dunno...cats? Maybe even telling you to get-" 

"Finish that sentence, Daniel, and you will be very sorry," Vlad said coolly.

Danny, far from being intimidated, raised an eyebrow. "Really? What're you gonna do? Defeat me with chess analogies and empty threats? Oooh, I'm so scared!"

The multi-millionaire opened his mouth to retort, then shut it. Danny smirked at his archenemy.

"Just because I can't use my powers doesn't mean I can't hurt you, Daniel. And may I remind you that you don't have your powers, either?"

"No, but he just kicked that jaguar's butt," Tucker said pointedly. "Which you ran away from, screaming."

"You screamed too," Vlad retorted.

Tucker ignored him and turned to his friend. "He really does scream like a girl, though, Danny. You should have heard!"

"I did," the ghost boy answered, smiling wryly. "You were loud enough to wake the dead. So, what happened to you?"

"That's a long story. How'd you survive falling out of the plane like that?"

Danny sighed. "That's a longer one. So, welcome to our camp." He brushed aside the bushes to let Tucker and Vlad into the clearing.

Tucker went through the opening, and Vlad followed. Of course, not before Danny tripped him, causing the millionaire to land face-first into the mud.

"I do, however, always have time for that," he quoted cheerfully to the man. Vlad lifted his head and spat out a mouthful of mud.

* * *

"**_Q_**uicksand, a giant snake, and a collapsing plane?" Tucker whistled softly. "You've had it tough, man." 

"It wasn't that bad," Danny said. "Okay, so the quicksand was a little hard to get out of... But it could have been worse!" The boy sighed. "So, what happened to you guys?"

"Well," Tucker began, "after the Fenton Ghost Disabler nearly fell out of the plane, you and your parents went to go save it. Then... Well, the air felt all funny, sort of metallic and prickly-"

"Electrical charge," Vlad said knowledgeably. "From the lightning."

"Let Tucker tell his story, Pla- Vlad," Danny growled.

The group was gathered around the small fire in the camp, listening to the story with as much attention as they had when Danny had told his ghost story of the previous night. They seemed as amazed that Tucker had survived as they had that Danny had survived supposedly being struck by lightning, and awestruck that a looser like clumsy Danny Fenton was on first-name terms with someone as famous—and more importantly, rich—as Vlad Masters.

"Yeah. Jazz yelled for us all to get down, and your mom pulled you to the floor. Well, then I'm not really sure what happened, but we think that the Fenton Ghost Disabler was hit by lighting. At least, that was the best explanation Vlad could come up with. At first we'd thought _you'd_ been hit, but after we found out that Vlad didn't have his- Well, we figured that if you'd been hit, you wouldn't be alive right now. Anyway, after it was hit, this huge gust of wind came up and tossed the plane, and you and the Disabler just fell right out of the door.

"Well, we were really scared then, 'cause you we just thought you'd died and we didn't know what would happen to us. Well, we started tilting downward, and when we ran up to the cockpit, the pilot and copilot had been knocked out somehow. We thought they must've hit their heads when the plane jerked like that or something. So your mom ran up to try to fly it, but she couldn't do anything against the wind. We all grabbed the parachutes and jumped out of the plane.

"We must've been separated in the air, 'cause it was dark and windy and- Well, you remember how it was. I don't really remember anything after that, though."

"He passed out and his parachute got tangled up in a tree," Vlad continued. "It was lucky for him I came by and helped get him down."

Danny smiled. _Typical Tucker, getting stuck in a tree._

"We wandered around a little after that. Then this morning we found that spring, and we were thirsty so we thought we'd get a drink. But that jaguar just came up from nowhere. Then you showed up and, well, you know the rest," Tucker finished.

"So, that's what happened? What about my parents, Jazz, Sam, Valerie, and the twopilots?"

Tucker shrugged and shook his head.

"As your friend had said, we couldn't see anything after we abandoned ship, Daniel. But I'm sure they're alive. Dear Maddie wouldn't let a little thing like a hurricane get the best of her..."

Tucker rolled his eyes and leaned closer to Danny. "Now I know why you don't like him."

"Vlad, could I talk to you for a minute...?" Danny asked, steering the millionaire off into the jungle.

"Yes, my dear boy?"

"Cut the fancy talk and listen, _Uncle Vlad_," Danny hissed. "I'm not sure how you did it, but I know you had something to do with this..."

"Daniel, you really think I have the power to conjure a hurricane? I'm flattered that you think so, but no. Why would I do anything that could potentially harm me as well?"

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Just like how you set the Ghost King free, right?"

"Very clever, Daniel. And I suppose you figured this out all on your own?"

"It was kind of obvious," Danny answered. He waited for a few moments, before adding, as casual as possible "Say, you didn't happen to be anywhere near our camp last night, did you?"

Vlad's eyebrows went up. "No. Why?"

"Uh... No reason."

The ferns beside them rustled, and Dash appeared.

"Hey... Danny? Can you come back to camp?"

Danny glared at Vlad one last time, then turned and nodded. Dash disappeared, and Danny followed.

The ghost boy stopped in his tracks. _Wait... Did_ Dash _just call _me_ Danny?__

* * *

_

"**_S_**o, what are we gonna do now?" Star asked. 

"I think we should just, you know, stay here." Kwan suggested. "After all, it's pretty safe. There's water, at least, and it's mostly dry."

"Yeah, but what about Danny's family?"Ashley asked. "I mean, we can't just leave them out there, can we?"

"But Kwan's right, we're safe here!" Star protested.

"The girl does have a point," Vlad admitted. "Why risk our lives when we're just safe right here?"

"Yeah, 'cause the quicksand was _real_ safe," Dash muttered.

"We won't get attacked by creepy snakes here," Paulina argued.

"Well, I say it's Danny's decision," Veronica said. "He's our leader, after all!"

Vlad raised his eyebrows. "Leader?"

"I still say we should stay here," Star muttered bitterly.

"Hey, don't I get a say in this?" Tucker asked.

Danny turned to his friend. "Okay. So what do you think we should do, Tuck?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, man, I don't know! I just want to go somewhere with electricity." He shuddered. "Technology deprivation... not good."

"Well, I'm sure if the ghost boy were here, _he'd_ know what to do. _He'd_ save us," Paulina said confidently. Danny groaned.

"Paulina, the ghost boy isn't going to come and save us! So... stop suggesting it!" he said angrily.

The girl cringed, unused to being spoken to in such a sharp manner. Danny sighed.

"Listen. You know what we were saying, about the Fenton Ghost Disabler, right? Well... Even if...uh, even if Danny Phantom was on the plane with us, he wouldn't be able to do anything right now, 'cause the Disabler was struck by lightning and it...well, it disabled all the ghosts within range. And you saw the plane, it wasn't really that big."

"So... He might show up later?"

"He might." Danny agreed. "So... I guess, if no one has an objection, we'll keep looking for my family?"

Not one person disagreed.

* * *

Eck, so, that's that over with. Some foreshadowing that no one probably caught, a few more pieces of the plot tucked away, a random jaguar that's gonna keep on popping up (you will feel sorry for this jaguar before long), and I torture Vladdy some more. Why, you ask? Well, 'cause torturing Vladdy's fun. He's my favorite character. And it's almost as fun as putting Dark Dan in a bunny costume-oh, I'm not going to start this again, now, am I? 

Eheh, well, yeah. I still don't like this chapter much, y'know. Okay, so next chapter's the last one that I actually have somewhat written. Uh, but no preview, 'cause I'm not gonna spoil it for ya. I want you to guess which random characters we're going to find out what happened to next! Aren't I nice like that?

So, uh yeah. See ya, I guess, and... Well, I swear I'm gonna be better about replying to reviews, okay?

-E.P.


End file.
